They've announced (just in German so far, apparently) that the 'Guest of honour' at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair will be Indonesia.
(It's Brazil this year, and Finland next.)
As I often mention (like ... yesterday), Southeast Asian literature gets far too little exposure abroad, and so this is a great opportunity, and it will be interesting to see whether US and UK publishers are receptive to what will be on offer. Being guest of honour usually makes for a nice exposure-bump -- Iceland, Turkey, and South Korea all seem to have gotten a nice boost among recent nations in that position (though admittedly last year's guest, New Zealand, doesn't seem to have been able to capitalize particularly well in the United States, though maybe they fared better elsewhere, in translation).
The Lontar Foundation has done some great work promoting Indonesian literature abroad, and that's a great starting point -- especially their Modern Library of Indonesia. Several of these titles (and some other Indonesian ones, like all-time local bestseller The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata) are under review at the complete review -- and I'm sure I'll get to more by 2015.
As I often mention (like ... yesterday), Southeast Asian literature gets far too little exposure abroad, and so this is a great opportunity, and it will be interesting to see whether US and UK publishers are receptive to what will be on offer. Being guest of honour usually makes for a nice exposure-bump -- Iceland, Turkey, and South Korea all seem to have gotten a nice boost among recent nations in that position (though admittedly last year's guest, New Zealand, doesn't seem to have been able to capitalize particularly well in the United States, though maybe they fared better elsewhere, in translation).
The Lontar Foundation has done some great work promoting Indonesian literature abroad, and that's a great starting point -- especially their Modern Library of Indonesia. Several of these titles (and some other Indonesian ones, like all-time local bestseller The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata) are under review at the complete review -- and I'm sure I'll get to more by 2015.